The Farrell Review, an industry-wide review of architecture and the built environment, led by Sir Terry Farrell and commissioned by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, has been published. After a wide-reaching consultation process including workshops throughout the country, the findings have been compiled into a report with 60 recommendations. There are four key themes (Education, outreach and skills; Design quality; Cultural heritage; Economic benefits) which were set out in the terms of reference for the Review, with an additional theme of built environment policy which addresses the legacy and proposed way forward.

The OPEN BIM Network is a UK based independent, open and non-product specific group facilitated by Constructing Excellence. The primary function of the OPEN BIM Network is to inform industry about Open BIM, what it means, why it is increasingly becoming the global solution of choice, how it can be done and what, collectively, industry can do to accelerate its adoption. Focus features all aspects of BIM including theory, planning, implementation, mandatory requirements and case studies.

This paper from the Africa Research Institute argues that more progressive, realistic urban planning in Africa will require a radically different approach to planning law reform. This is essential for sustainable and equitable urban development in Africa.

This paper describes in detail how the author, and colleagues at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) at the University of Nairobi and other institutions, have sought to revitalise the education and training that planners receive and encourage the adoption of more progressive approaches among planning professionals. It is argued that curricula reform, research and innovation, close links with other planning schools in Africa, and working partnerships with civil society organisations in informal settlements are the bedrock of the effort to ensure that Kenya’s future urban planners are equipped to manage rapid urban transformation.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a report that says the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across the oceans. The world, in many cases, is ill-prepared for risks from a changing climate. The report also concludes that there are opportunities to respond to such risks, though the risks will be difficult to manage with high levels of warming. It details the impacts of climate change to date, the future risks from a changing climate, and the opportunities for effective action to reduce risks. A total of 309 coordinating lead authors, lead authors, and review editors, drawn from 70 countries, were selected to produce the report. They enlisted the help of 436 contributing authors, and a total of 1,729 expert and government reviewers.

An analysis undertaken by consultants Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners suggests that local plans are taking about 40 per cent longer to get through the examination process since the government’s planning policy reforms were introduced, with evidence and upward pressure on housing targets being the key factor.

This is a joint project of nine Scottish universities, led by Glasgow Caledonian University, which aims to reduce carbon emissions by supporting academic/industry collaboration in testing the integration of sustainable infrastructure into the existing built environment (e.g. housing, education, healthcare and other building estates). It is a follow-up of the project CIC Start Online whose focus was on sustainable building design and refurbishment. The outputs of the CIC Start Online project can be searched through Knowledge Base on the project website which will remain accessible.

This webinar aimed to provide the definition of Post Occupancy (Design) Evaluation from the Skanska perspective. A brief background and recent history of POE in the wider industry was also summarised. The reasons why POE is thought to be a cost effective means of providing useful feedback to improve designs for the benefit of clients was covered. Also the description of how Skanska made the decision to engage with the process and the description of the methodology adopted. This also included defining limitations, articulating the risks and their mitigation and the alignment with the original brief for the project. A number of case study projects including hospitals, schools and office buildings were briefly described and the relevant findings summarised. Technical issues and their interface with Building Information Modelling (BIM) will be introduced. Similarly the social aspect of occupant behaviour weretouched upon. Behaviour has the capacity to influence the sensitive issue of energy consumption potentially more than the technical and design parameters.